


Bad Puns. That´s How Eye Roll!

by Mikey_is_a_zombie



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: 5 + 1 times, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Bad Puns, Deaf Clint Barton, Grumpy Bucky Barnes, I AM SORRY, M/M, Well not really, literature student Bucky Barnes, obvious Clint Barton
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-06
Updated: 2019-03-06
Packaged: 2019-11-13 01:26:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18022184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mikey_is_a_zombie/pseuds/Mikey_is_a_zombie
Summary: Five times Clint tried to make Bucky smile and the one time he succeeded.or: Bucky is a grumpy literature Student. Clint might or might not have a crush on him so he decides to cheer Bucky up. With puns.





	Bad Puns. That´s How Eye Roll!

**Author's Note:**

> Wow, I wrote this within two days becuase I am stuck on my main fic at the moment and I have to much time. Have fun reading and please leave Feedback when you like it :)  
> ((I tried to put a Picture in but I couldn´t do it, sorry))
> 
>  
> 
> I found the prompt "Person A works at a coffee shup. Person B is grumpy whenever they buy coffee so Person A decides to cheer them up a little."

Clint didn't especially like working in a coffee shop. It was boring, he had to get out of bed early and then interact with people like a normal, functioning human being – even in the mornings! But well, his friend Natasha had called in a favour from one of her 'contacts' as she had called it, to get him this job and the pay was enough to keep up with the rent of his little apartment and to feed Clint and Lucky so he was happy enough with it. 

And it wasn't like working in the coffee shop was horrible. It could be quite nice at times, for example when the dark-haired literature student, James as Clint learned when he was taking his order one day, came in. Sometimes he brought his artist friend who always had some kind of paint on his face or clothes and he always looked like someone had just pissed in his cereal. Of course it only took a couple of weeks for Clint to make it his personal quest to get the other man to laugh.  
At least a little. He would be happy with as little as a chuckle. A smile at least. Or even just a neutral expression! Clint was easy to please. 

The reason why Clint even cared was that no matter how pissed off the man looked, he was never rude to him, or any of the other baristas for a matter of fact. Many customers took their anger or annoyance out on them, James didn't. Granted, he was never friendly, rather carefully polite but it was good enough for Clint.

It took him a little while to come up with a good idea as he had to reject his plan to pin little prints of Lucky on his cup - the guy's wallpaper and lock screen was a little white cat with huge eyes so it was safe to assume he was more of a cat person - but nine days later Clint woke up with the perfect plan. On this particular wednesday he couldn't wait to open up the shop and just wouldn't stop bouncing on his heels in excitement no matter how many passive aggressive glares, irritated looks and over exaggerated eyerolls Tony gave him. 

"What are you so excited about anyways?" Tony asked leaning against the counter as he watched Clint clean up. "Usually you wouldn't even talk to people properly before twelve if you didn't have to and now you're acting like you're on speed." He stopped, raising one eyebrow suspiciously "You're not on speed, are you?" 

Clint laughed and shook his head, "Just general excitement to start in the new day!" He beamed at Tony just as he finished wiping down the counter. 

"Okay, who are you - and what did you do to Barton!" Tony exclaimed a little too loud and squinted at Clint. Clint just shrugged and continued grinning like an idiot. He was a man on a mission and couldn't let himself be distracted - even if that meant to pass up a perfect chance to snark at Tony.

 

At the end of the day James hadn't come in the shop and Clint was unreasonably disappointed because of it. Unreasonably because it wasn't like the man came in every day, James wasn't even close to being a regular, but Clint had still hoped, almost expected, that he would see him today. Maybe he was just too excited to try his plan out. Tomorrow, Clint told himself, maybe he'd see James tomorrow.

 

Despite all his hoping and more-or-less praying to the endless void of space, another nine days went by until the other man appeared again.  
Clint had just come back from his break when James stepped through the door, reading a rather thick book as he walked and an especially deep scowl etched onto his face. It was impressive how the man walked and read without running into people. Or lampposts, Clint thought. Yeah, good memories. Clint couldn't even manage walking on its own without risking falling over his own feet. 

James stepped up to the counter, closing his book and putting it down on the space that was usually designed for women's handbags in order to pull out his wallet "I'd like to have...", his scowl deepened even further, disproving Clint's thesis that he had worn his meanest scowl when he had entered the coffee shop. Apparently he wasn't too happy with what was - or rather what wasn't - in his wallet, and Clint understood, James was a broke college student after all. "A small black coffee, please. Name's James." He finished, sighting. 

Clint smiled at him and nodded, "Just a sec. You can pay already over there."  
As James went over to Tony to pay, Clint took a big cup, because he could spare two bucks and wanted to brighten James' day a little after all, and wrote his name, as well as 'Bad puns. That's how eye roll!' on it in big, blocky letters instead of his usual chicken scratch. Then he went over to where James waited, reading again. Did this man ever take his nose out of his books?  
"Hey, your coffee." Clint said with a broad grin. 

James looked up and his eyes widened a little, "Uh, no, I've only paid for a small one?" He said awkwardly, apparently thinking that Clint had made a mistake. 

"Yeah, I know." Clint answered, just setting the cup down and walking back to the other end of the counter to take up an order from the next customer before James could protest further. 

This order Clint did mess up. He spent too much attention on watching James take his cup hesitantly after he had put the book in his backpack, his attention falling onto Clint's pun instantly. James just shook his head and rolled his eyes as he left and Clint wasn't sure whether the other man liked his pun or not. He was certain however, that James liked the big cup of coffee so it was okay.  
He had enough time to think of a better pun for next time.

-

Clint didn't have to wait too long for James to show up again. He was just clearing a table and may or may not have been staring out of the shop window distractedly when he saw James and his artist friend approach to the door. Within five seconds Clint was behind the counter and almost tackled Thor away so he could take James's order, but Thor was a decent guy and Tony couldn't keep his mouth shut, so he stepped aside with a warm smile and wished Clint luck just in time for the two young men to open the door and step inside. 

It was the first time Clint had seen James with an expression other than 'resting murder face’, ‘frown' or 'scowl', instead he was grinning widely and announced "It's on me Stevie!" As he threw an arm around Stevie's shoulders. Stevie grinned about twice as wide as James, his clothes and face suspiciously free of paint and carrying a big binder under one arm. They ordered - James a black coffee, as most of the times, and Steve a hot chocolate - and chattered excitedly after James had paid for both of them. 

Clint didn't know why his heart sank as he saw how close the two seemed to be, probably boyfriends, a smug little voice in the back of his head supplied, but he still drew a pile of three little cats on James' cup and wrote 'Meowntain' next to it because Clint had seen the pun on a birthday card and it had reminded him of the other man's lock screen and background and he was sure that James would like it.  
Clint really wanted to eavesdrop on their conversation, but it was a little too loud and the men were a little too far from him to understand more than just a few words. 

"Proud of you, punk!", "Own Exhibition!", "Amazing!" 

Clint made himself smile as he handed both cups over to James and Steve, and Steve laughed at the pun. It was hard to tell whether James was just grinning because apparently his probably-boyfriend had an own art exhibition or because of the ridiculously cute cats on his cup. 

Clint hoped it was because of the cats, he had been practising to draw them for five days every spare second so the other man should really cut him some slack. 

-

Either it was Clint's lucky week, or James was so intrigued by his cup-puns that he made a habit of coming to the shop more often; two days later James settled in one of the tables next to the window with a different book, philosophy as Clint could find out by being a bit of a stalker, frowning down at the pages as if he didn't agree with what they said at all. Clint decided that his peanut pun had to wait until later.  
He scribbled 'I'd like to make some kind of philosophy pun - but I Kant.' on a napkin, sniggering a little as he did so, certainly pleased with his idea. 

Apparently, Tony had grown suspicious, he somehow had a sense for when people did something gossip-worthy, because he stopped texting in the back room where he had taken his break and came out to look over Clint's shoulder instead to find out what the blond one planned now. 

"That's not funny." Tony replied dryly, rising of his eyebrows, "Why are you doing this anyways? It's not like he has a sexy blond hunk as a boyfriend..." 

"Potentially has a sexy blond hunk as a boyfriend." Clint corrected. Why did he even talk to Tony? Regrettably Clint had formed the habit of getting drunk with Tony and then whining about life because Clint liked to whine about life and Tony got a kick out of the gossip. "And also, my joke is hilarious, you just don't have a sense of humour." 

"Yeah, keep lying to yourself then." Tony shrugged as he disappeared back in the break room. 

"Asshole." Clint muttered and he took the napkin and the cup, made of porcelain instead of paper for a change, and brought it over to James' table, not able to contain his huge smile - damn it, the pun was hilarious and if he laughed about his own joke there was no shame in it, thank you very much, Tony!

"Thanks." James said without as much as looking up when the cup was set down in front of him, his eyes still wandering over the pages. 

"You're welcome." Clint simply answered with a small grin, putting the napkin down next to the hand that rested next to the book before shuffling off to clear tables and wipe them down - if this caused him to have a great view on James and his reaction when he finally saw Clint's masterpiece of a pun this was pure coincidence.

Clint bit back a smile when James looked up from his book to take a sip of his coffee and found the napkin sitting on his table, he stared at it puzzled for good 30 seconds before taking it in his hand to read what was written on it and his frown smoothed over just a little.  
With his free hand James pulled his phone out of his jeans pocket and appeared to take a picture of the pun before fiddling with the mobile a little, maybe sending it to his friend since he had liked the last one so much, Clint thought, and then went back to reading. 

When Clint cleared the table the other man had sat on, the napkin was gone. James liked the pun, he decided and then went to rub it under Tony's nose.

-

Their next encounter, almost three weeks later, was... different. It wasn't the shortest since Clint had started to write puns on the other man's cups, but everything was off.  
James came into the shop early in the morning which was unusual enough but he also looked like he hadn't slept in days, his voice was rough and instead of his usual clothes which usually involved jeans, T-shirt and a leatherjacket that made him so god it should be forbidden, he wore sweatpants and a worn hoodie.

Clint had just pulled his brows together sympathetically and asked "Rough week?" 

James didn't answer at first, only shrugging. He had changed his mind when Clint handed him his coffee. This time the cup said 'I'm friends with 25 letters of the alphabet. I don't know Y.' with a few cartoonish flowers and stars around it just because.  
" 'M sick and I just wanna curl up in my bed and sleep it off instead of takin' a trip 'round town like a zombie from the Walking fuckin' Dead, but I've got a paper due today and my professor is ancient so he doesn't have an email. Who the hell doesn't have an email nowadays? Isn´t an email a must have?" He grunted out.  
When Clint thought about it, James really looked pale enough to be one of those zombies.  
-

10 days later James had slept it off apparently because he and his maybe-boyfriend had found their way to the coffee shop together again. Steve entered first, ordering for the both of them as James finished his cigarette outside the door.  
"I see him reading a lot. What's his favourite book?" Clint asked Steve conversationally with a nod towards the door where James glowered at a woman who just had thrown the wrapping of her chocolate bar on the sidewalk. Steve looked a little surprised with Clint's question so he added, "Come on pal, humor me." 

Steve shrugged as if he had just won a debate with himself and didn't see any harm in telling the barista who always wrote weird stuff on his friend's cup.  
"The Hobbit. Bucky is obsessed with that book. I've never seen the appeal in it even though he made me watch the movies like 10 times each." He provided the information and gave Clint the couple of seconds he was staring off into nothing to come up with a somewhat smart joke about Hobbits without pressuring him to hurry. Steve seemed to understand that art couldn't be rushed. 

What Steve didn't understand was why Clint suddenly started to laugh and writing on the cup furiously.

"I started walking around without shoes and it became kind of a hobbit?" He read out after Clint handed him the cups. "Buck'll like this one. Do you know that he cleans and keeps every single cup?" Steve grinned smugly and checked whether James - or Bucky and/or Buck, Clint was confused - was still smoking before leaning over the counter, "He's got a massive crush on you. You can't imagine how excited he was when you started writing up jokes for him." Steve leaned back again and Clint really didn't know what to say. "Don't tell him I told you or he'll kill me." 

"Shouldn't you- and James- are you okay with this?" Clint blurted, this was his chance to find out whether Steve was James' boyfriend or not and he would take it! 

"Because you are two guys? Do I look like I'm from the 1940s or something?" Steve looked a little offended.

"No because... you are boyfriends?" The other man was silent for a second, his eyes looking like they would pop out of his skull, and then he started laughing, loud and honest. 

"I've known him since he was six!" Steve wheezed, "We are like brothers!" Now it was Clint who was a little offended, his guess hadn't been ridiculous enough to cause that much laughter...  
When Clint texted Tony the new discovery the only answer he got was: 'shame. Their babies would have been a blessing to the earth.'  
Clint decided that he had to explain to Tony about how the thing with the birds and bees worked on occasion. 

+1

Clint had been drawing turtles for days. On random sheets of papers, on the newspapers guests left on the tables and even on napkins when he had a quiet second in the shop.  
There were tiny, adorable turtles everywhere. Everywhere! And Clint knew that this drove Tony nuts. The worst part wasn't even the turtles, the worst part was that Clint wouldn't tell him why! And no matter how much Tony asked and how smooth he thought he was, Clint either answered with a vague wiggle of his eyebrows or not at all.  
It wasn't hard to tell that Clint had been having the time of his life letting Tony guess. It actually surprised him a little that Tony hadn’t guessed that it was for his next pun yet. 

Clint felt like he was in a better mood, always smiling since Steve had told him that James actually might have a crush on Clint. Always smiling and always plotting his next move. And the turtles were perfect, just innocent enough to be played off as a joke in case that Steve had just joked himself.  
So when James came in the coffee shop, with his book under one arm and his face twisted in a scowl Clint went to work. He took his sweet time with this one, not wanting to mess up. Clint had even brought a red and a green marker, additional to the black one, the green one for the legs and heads of the turtles, the red one for a little heart next to the writing and the black one for the shell and the pun. 

When Clint was done there were two tiny turtles holding hands and underneath the little drawing was written 'You are turtley awesome!' accompanied by a little heart.  
It was the first time that Clint blushed while interacting with James and as soon as his eyes found the picture his frown turned into a smile that was rapidly moving over his face to touch his eyes and suddenly the man opposite of Clint just beamed, his whole body language changing, looking happier than Clint would have thought was possible. 

James however didn't say anything. He simply beamed at Clint and then took a napkin and sat down in the very back of the coffee shop with his back to Clint.  
Unnecessary to say this wasn't how Clint had imagined things going but after a few seconds of shock how fast James had taken off he made himself smile - it wasn't the other customer's fault that he had been making himself false hopes after all - and continued working. 

Thinking about it, it hadn't even been as much of a failure. James had smiled - and oh God, this smile had made Clint's knees feel weak and it had been impossible not to smile back - and this had been the primary goal after all, hadn't it? 

A couple of minutes later Thor came back from his break to take over so Clint could disappear in the back room and pity himself for 40 whole minutes before he had to go back to work.  
Or that was what Clint had thought he would do because not long after Clint had started, well, pretty much hiding in the back to be honest, he reacted horrible to rejection, Thor came in and handed him a napkin that was folded in the middle once.

"A certain man asked me to give this to you. He seemed rather disappointed he couldn't do it himself." Thor explained, raising his eyebrows in a manner that didn't let any questions open.

'I will never tire of you and your terrible puns!' Was written in big, round letters next to a round thing that had a remote resemblance with a tractor tire. 'P.S: Are you made of copper and tellurium? Cause you are CuTe!' And underneath this was a phone number written, alongside with '(my friends call me Bucky)'.

Clint had to grin. Terrible puns seemed to be contagious. 


End file.
